In a TV set with an accessory remote commander (will be referred to as “remote controller” hereunder), if any, the user of the TV set can make an image quality control, timer setting or the like, for example, by using the remote controller to display a performable-operations menu on a display screen of the TV set, and select an item for an intended operation, image quality control or timer setting, from the menu being displayed on the display screen, and can make an image quality control or timer setting by operating the remote controller according to a guidance or the like being displayed on the display screen.
Also, in a receiver that receives a satellite broadcast signal, such as STB (set-top box), IRD (integrated receiver decoder) or the like, data such as a so-called electronic program guide (EPG) is displayed on the display screen of a monitor receiver. In this case, selection, by a remote controller accessory to the receiver, of a desired program according to an EPG being displayed on the display screen of the monitor receiver leads to selection of a desired one of channels available on the receiver.
As above, in a TV set or a receiver that receives a television broadcast signal, a combination of the display of instructive information such as a menu, guidance or EPG on the display screen with a user's operation of the remote controller enables a user-friendly, relatively easy selection of a desired operation.
In some cases, however, the use of the remote controller will be made complicated by the above-mentioned combination of the display, on the display screen of the TV set or the like, of necessary information such as a menu, guidance or the like for having the TV set, STB or IRD make a user-intended operation in response to a remote-control operation made by the user in watching the instructive information being displayed on the screen.
For instance, the user has to scroll through a plurality of menu pages, if any, in order to select a menu page including a desired item of operation, the user has to operate the remote controller many times to move the cursor on the display screen, and also the user has to operate the remote controller to “set” each selected item of operation.
Employment of an LCD (liquid crystal display) panel or the like has given birth to more compact and lightweight monitors such as TV sets. Thus, the user can transport such a modern TV set easily and use it near him or her. In case the user uses such a TV set near him, he will not need any more remote controller for operating his TV set. Rather, the user will be bored with the operation of a remote controller as an external input unit for a receiver or the like, that supplies video and audio signals to the TV set.
On this account, the Applicant of the present invention proposed, in the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2002-34023, a two-way communication system capable of building an easier-to-use home network that permits the user to watch video information such as a TV program on a display unit, listen to audio information from the display unit, and make remote control of a base station and an external input unit connected to the base station according to instructive information displayed on a display element of the display unit and by the use of a screen-touch positioning means such as a touch panel, whereby the user is set free from such troublesome operations those with the conventional remote controller.
With the two-way communication system disclosed in the above Applicant's Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-34023, the user can make remote control of the base station and external input unit connected to the base station according to the instructive information displayed on the display element of the display unit and by the use of the screen-touch positioning means such as a touch panel, and can thus easily select a desired image for display on the display unit.